The Ape's Head
A certain person, as he stoodWithin the shambles buying food,Amongst the other kitchen fareBeheld an Ape suspended there;And asking how 'twould taste, when dress'd,The butcher shook his head in jest;"If for such prog your fancy is,Judge of the flavour by the phiz."This speech was not so true as keen,For I in life have often seenGood features with a wicked heart,And plainness acting virtue's part.
Words in this poem
- amongst prep.
- Mixed or mingled; surrounded by. [OE. amongist, amonges, amonge, among, AS. onmang, ongemang, gemang, in a crowd or mixture. For the ending -st see Amidst. See Mingle.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- prog v. i.
- To wander about and beg; to seek food or other supplies by low arts; to seek for advantage by mean shift or tricks. [Low] [Cf. D. prachen, G. prachern, Dan. prakke, Sw. pracka, to beg, L. procare, procari, to ask, demand, and E. prowl.]
- flavour n.
- That quality of anything which affects the smell; odor; fragrances; as, the flavor of a rose. [OF. fleur, flaur (two syllables), odor, cf. F. fleurer to emit an odor, It. flatore a bad odor, prob. fr. L. flare to bow, whence the sense of exhalation. Cf. B]
- phiz n.
- The face or visage. [Contr. fr. physiognomy.]
- plainness n.
- The quality or state of being plain.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ape's Head is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Fables of Phædrus Literally translated into English prose with notes, Project Gutenberg ebook #25512; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Phaedrus, The Ape's Head, in The Fables of Phaedrus (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25512, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/phaedrus-fables/the-ape-s-head.html, id L21276.
Form and metre
The Ape's Head is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 83% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 --AABBCCDDEE stood · food · fareA · thereA · dress'dB · jestB · isC · phizC · keenD · seenD · heartE · partE
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A certain person, as he stood | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Within the shambles buying food, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Amongst the other kitchen fare | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Beheld an Ape suspended there; | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| And asking how 'twould taste, when dress'd, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The butcher shook his head in jest; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| "If for such prog your fancy is, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Judge of the flavour by the phiz." | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| This speech was not so true as keen, | 8 | ········ |
| For I in life have often seen | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Good features with a wicked heart, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And plainness acting virtue's part. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.